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Carne, Phoenicia

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A coin of Carne: the Phoenician name 𐤒𐤓𐤍 on the right, the Phoenician date on the left

Carne (Phoenician: 𐤒𐤓𐤍,[1] Greek: Κάρνη[2]) or Carnos (Greek: Κάρνος[3]) was an ancient Phoenician city opposite to the island-city Arados, north of Tartus.[4] Carne (and not Marath) was the port of Arados on the mainland, the only port city of its dependencies.[4][5]

Nothing is known of the history of the city as distinct from that of Aradian Paralia,[4] which included also Tartus, Marath, Enydra, Balanaea and Paltus.[3][6] Lycophron uses the term "Καρνῖται κύνες" (Carnite hounds)[7] to refer Phoenician merchants.[4] Strabo mentions it as one of the Aradian coast cities, in which its seaboard harbour is found.[3] Pliny the Elder[8] and Stephanus of Byzantium[2] mention it as a city in northern Phoenicia.

Carne had a Mint, in which its Phoenician name and a date in Phoenician numerals, presumably that of Arados, were minted on its coins.[4] Some of the coins also show the Greek letters ΚΑΡ with the Alpha and the Rho joined together.[9] Some of them contain a palm,[9] a common symbol of Phoenicia.[10][11] The deities who stand out in their appearance on the city's coins are Zeus, Tyche and Eshmun-Asclepius (sometimes crowned by Nike).[9] The types of the coins are mainly those of Arados, although the Eshmun-Asclepius type points to a special cult of the deity at Carne. The mint produced coins in three periods (all are BC): 226/225–221/220, 188/187–185/184, and 137/136, a year that saw especially a great revival of currency at Arados itself.[12]

Nowadays, the city location is called Karnûn[4] or Karnoun,[13] with an -oun suffix typical for borrowed names from Greek even when they don't and with Greek suffix -ον (like Batroun, from Greek Βοτρύς).[14]

References

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  1. ^ Hill, George Francis (1965). Catalogue of the Greek Coins of Phoenicia. Arnaldo Forni - Editore. pp. xxxix–xl.
  2. ^ a b Stephanus of Byzantium, Cum annotationibus L. Holsteinii, A. Berkelii et Th. de Pinedo. Vol. I, cum Guilielmi Dindorfii praefatione, cui insunt lectiones libri Vratislav, Leipzig, 1825, p. 238
  3. ^ a b c Strabo, Geographica, 16.2.12 (Greek source and English translation)
  4. ^ a b c d e f Hill, George Francis (1965). Catalogue of the Greek Coins of Phoenicia. Arnaldo Forni - Editore. pp. xxxviii.
  5. ^ Renan, Ernest (1864). Mission de Phénicie. Paris: Imprimerie Impériale. p. 20, 55, 97
  6. ^ Renan, Ernest (1864). Mission de Phénicie. Paris: Imprimerie Impériale. p. 20
  7. ^ Lycophron, Alexandra, line 1921 (Greek soure, English translation)
  8. ^ Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historiae, 5.19 (Latin source and English translation)
  9. ^ a b c Hill, George Francis (1965). Catalogue of the Greek Coins of Phoenicia. Arnaldo Forni - Editore. pp. xxxix.
  10. ^ Ben-Eli, Arie L.; Ringel, Joseph; Ya'akov Meshorer (1975). Ships and Parts of Ships on Ancient Coins I. National Maritime Museum Foundation. p. 66.
  11. ^ Examples: Arados: [1], Sidon: [2], Tripoli: [3], Tyre: [4]
  12. ^ Hill, George Francis (1965). Catalogue of the Greek Coins of Phoenicia. Arnaldo Forni - Editore. pp. xl.
  13. ^ Renan, Ernest (1864). Mission de Phénicie. Paris: Imprimerie Impériale. p. 21
  14. ^ Renan, Ernest (1864). Mission de Phénicie. Paris: Imprimerie Impériale. p. 21

Further reading

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